Currently, existing airlines and other transportation companies provide various services to mobile or wireless devices (e.g., cellular phones, smart devices, laptops, tablet computers, etc.) when such devices are on-board a vehicle while the vehicle is in en route to a destination. For example, some existing communications systems are able to provide internet-based network connections to mobile devices while on-board a vehicle, such as through Wi-Fi capability. Some other systems exist to support the delivery of terrestrial or native features (e.g., roaming, texting, simultaneous calls, etc.) to mobile or wireless devices while a vehicle is in transit. In particular, to support native, terrestrial features of a mobile or wireless device in a non-terrestrial environment, an on-board communications network system facilitates communications between mobile devices and a ground-based data center.
In certain situations, passengers of the vehicles may be in need of certain travel information. For example, in-flight passengers on an aircraft may wish to know arrival gate information, baggage claim information, and other similar information. Further, certain passengers may have specific travel itineraries with connection information that is not easily communicated to the passengers. Often, flight attendants have to announce this connection information to all the passengers on the plane. However, not only does this require passengers to listen to the whole announcement, but the connection information does not apply to passengers who do not have connections. Additionally, passengers may not want to (or know how to) explicitly retrieve relevant travel information using existing communication channels. Indeed, using a mobile device to locate relevant information from a dedicated website or application is difficult and time consuming.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity to leverage various communication infrastructure components to communicate relevant travel information to passengers. In particular, notifying passengers of flight-specific or itinerary-specific information provides a better travel experience for the passengers. Further, there is an opportunity to compile usage metrics related to in-flight communications in an effort to improve overall service.